Psychotic Episode 7: The Plot Thickens
by Glod
Summary: A trap is set for the Justice League, and one that could be lethal if sprung.
1. Coordinator

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the Justice League/ JLU

**Pyschotic**

**Coordinator**

"Stargirl and S.T.R.I.P.E, you're needed in Omaha. A string of bank robberies have been reported over the last two days. I'm sending co-ordinates of - "

"Who is this?"

Psychotic sighed, her voice coming out in the three tones of her shared body. For some reason the magic copied her voice in triplicate when they shared the body, something that none of the girls could find a reason for. The reason for the sigh was far easier to identify. This was the sixth time today that she'd been questioned for her identity. J'onn had promised that he'd sent out a memo informing all members of the Justice League that Psychotic was the new acting Coordinator on the Watchtower. Sharing the job between herself, Mr. Terrific and J'onn made it easier on all of them, and gave J'onn more free time since he'd become far more social during his brief retirement from active duty.

Superman in particular had voiced concerns over giving Psychotic such a heavy responsibility, especially only a month and a half after she'd been made a full member of the Justice League. But J'onn had supported her, and after Batman had spent an hour watching her coordinate the League (under J'onn's supervision), he'd been convinced enough to override Superman's reservations. Still, Psychotic could tell Superman wasn't letting down his suspicion. His fabricated reasons for dropping by the control room all that day were getting progressively more ridiculous.

"Stargirl, this is Psychotic. I have been made - "

"Wait a minute! You're that crazy nut that nearly tore apart the Watchtower! What the hell are you doing giving orders? Where's Mr. Terrific? You haven't killed him, have you?"

Psychotic couldn't prevent another sigh. "No, I have not killed Mr. Terrific. I'm a full member of the Justice League. A memo was sent a week ago informing all members that I'm the new acting Coordinator." Psychotic explained patiently.

"Aren't you my age?" Stargirl asked suspiciously. "Why should I have to take orders from someone my own age? How come you get to be Coordinator? Wait, Dad!"

"Psychotic, this is Pat. I got the memo. What were those co-ordinates?" A wash of relief swept through Psychotic on hearing Stargirl's stepfather over the communicator. Of course, he'd have actually _read_ his memos, although she could still hear Stargirl complaining in the background.

"I'm sending you the co-ordinates of the crime gang's last suspected location. Omaha police suspect at least one member of the gang has supernatural powers, though they have been unable to reliably identify what the powers are. If you have any difficulty, contact me. I'll send you any further information as I get it." Psychotic rattled off the instructions as professionally as she could and was glad to hear S.T.R.I.P.E's acknowledgement before cutting off the communication.

This job was proving harder than she'd thought. Jay had long ago developed a fascination with the Watchtower Control room, when she'd spent hours in here watching J'onn co-ordinate the members of the Justice League. She'd read up and memorized the various skills of the members, and her photographic memory and her three-minded capabilities for multi-tasking made her ideal as a coordinator. To top it off, she loved doing it.

But it was becoming progressively more obvious how little trust most of the Justice League had in her. She was known as a wild card, as uncontrollable, and rumour had it she was completely insane. Her attempts to destroy the Watchtower had run the rumour mills and she didn't come out at all well. Stargirl's reaction to receiving instructions from her were pretty typical for most of the members, although most of them had read their memos and weren't quite so blunt in their distrust. Her age didn't help matters much either.

Her birthday had quietly passed her by, unnoticed except for a small sing-along effort from her other self. Jay didn't have any friends, even up here on the Watchtower, so there wasn't really anybody she'd wanted to tell about it. This made her a respectable 19 years old, still a child by anyone's standards. Not that anyone else in the Justice League actually knew her exact age, but she looked as young as she was, and no matter how old she acted, nobody was falling for it. It was pretty intimidating to be mixed up with all the adult heroes of the world, but there wasn't really anywhere else for Jay. There were a number of teen hero groups, but they were based in population centres down on the planet, and none of the founding seven wanted her permanently near so many innocents. Sure, they trusted her enough to make her a member, but they weren't positive she would never again lose control.

_I have promised not to. _Psychotic's voice was as close to petulant as she could get without actually being so. The reasons for Jay's lack of control had been Psychotic, trying to break free, but now that Psychotic was an integrated part of them losing control was unlikely to happen. None of the Justice League seemed to want to believe that with just her word for it though. Gaining everyone's trust was an uphill battle, and sometimes it was exhausting.

_Doing a crap job here isn't going to help. Let's get on with it. _

It was a bad sign when Jay's other self was being sensible. All three of them were pretty tired. They hadn't given up on their intensive training, and in the last month had progressed through some of the harder simulations programmed into the training room. But now they had Justice League duties, although crowd control was the closest she got to real people, and even then only if there was absolutely nobody else available to do it. Sometimes Jay thought they were putting her in as Coordinator because it was the one position where she could be a lot of help and still be far away from innocent people.

_You'd think saving an entire city at risk of our own lives would be proof enough for them. _

_Hah. _

A beep from one of the computers alerted Psychotic to a new crisis. Pulling herself back to attention she sent out a tendril of magic to pull up the information on the alert.

_What on earth? Alaskan GMD base reporting an attack? _

_GMD?_

_Ground-based Midcourse Defense. It's the US missile defense program. They've got nothing but kinetic missiles there._

_Kinetic missiles?_

_Really Psychotic, keep up! There's no explosive in the missiles, they work purely by moving really, really fast and hitting things really, really hard. _

_Who do we send?_

It was one of those silent moments in their head. It would have been nice, if it had come when say, she was in the shower. But right now, when they needed an answer and they needed it quick, was not a good time for a silent moment.

To her relief, Superman chose that moment to wander in to the Control room.

"Psychotic! Have you seen my… er… glasses?" Superman asked in a falsely jovial voice, as if he actually wore glasses.

_By far the most stupid excuse yet. _

"No, sir. But the Alaskan GMD base is under attack, you're needed there. I'm entering co-ordinates in the transporter. If you need glasses for this mission, I can send something down after you, sir." Psychotic couldn't help letting a little sarcasm creep into that last sentence, though it was hard to tell with the multi-toned voice.

Luckily Superman was already halfway down to the transporter deck by then. His joviality gone, he was all business. "Keep comm. lines open. I'll contact you when I'm down there." At a nod from him, the man on the transporter controls hit a few buttons and Superman was gone.

A small tendril of magic brought the base up on screen, and Jay began scanning through specs and weapons listings that should have only been available to government agencies. It always amazed them how much access they had to supposedly top secret information. A few more entered codes and they had satellite images of the base on screen, and being analyzed for any abnormalities. It didn't take long to find any: a convoy of armored snowmobiles was converging on the base, surrounding it from all sides. Heavy artillery was being used to blast down the outer defences at the front of the base, drawing attention away from the rear where a smaller group was blasting their way in through a less heavily defended area.

_They're not exactly going for the subtle approach, are they? _

Superman phased in just south of the base and was blasting his way through the attackers at the main gates. He had the militants held off within minutes, but they were keeping him occupied with heavy gunning. Another minute and he'd taken out two of the bigger snowmobiles which were pretty much modified tanks. They looked...

_They look exactly like the armored vehicles that attacked that convoy last month. _

_The same group? But what could they possibly want with kinetic missiles? _

_Jay-both of you. Look._

All three turned their attention to their screens as Superman was hit by a glowing green pellet and fell.

_Holy shit. Kryptonite. They have kryptonite! _

"Green Lantern. Shayera. This is an emergency. Superman is down in Alaska. Kryptonite. You're needed there immediately." As one Jay voiced her shock, the other had opened comm. links and was already reassigning missions.

"I'm on it. Teleport me!" Shayera responded immediately. Within seconds Psychotic had entered the co-ordinates and Hawkgirl appeared on screen, smashing through tanks with her mace, approaching Superman.

"I'm ready." Green Lantern responded seconds after Hawkgirl. Psychotic immediately began re-entering coordinates.

Another alert flagged up. _Nuclear reactor destabilizing in Fessenheim. _

"Green Lantern, change of plan. You're needed in France. A nuclear reactor is destabilizing. Contain any radiation, evacuate the area, and stop it, if possible. I'm sending Flash to help."

They had executed their plan before they'd even finished telling Green Lantern about it. Instantly Psychotic contacted Flash.

"Yo! Psychotic!" Flash answered with his habitual cheer, putting Jay's teeth on edge.

"Nuclear reactor destabilizing in France, Green Lantern's already there. He'll brief you, just get there! Quick!"

The link to Flash was immediately cut, the three person concentration of Psychotic was turned to the Alaskan situation. Hawkgirl seemed to be having difficulty getting through to Superman. It looked like they'd need more backup…

_Another alert. This is starting to look a bit like the last time- get everybody busy, ready for the big attack._

_And this time they know about us. _

_It's a cruise ship in the Caribbean. It's hit a glacier. _

_A glacier? In the Caribbean?_

_It's right there on the screen if you think I'm making it up. _

"Fire and Ice. A cruise ship in the Carribbean has hit a glacier, you're needed - "

"Who is this?" The accented Brazilian voice sounded genuinely confused, but Psychotic didn't have the time for it.

"Look, I'm transporting you and Ice in five seconds. Just get ready for it. Save everybody. Do the superhero thing. Ask questions later." Psychotic swiftly entered coordinates and cut the comm. links before she could hear any further protests. They could complain later.

Their attention snapped back to Superman. Hawkgirl had finally got through and managed to remove the kryptonite from Superman's immediate vicinity. He was recovering, slowly, but while they'd managed to hold off the assailants at the main gate, the group attacking from the rear had already infiltrated past the outer defenses.

_At this rate they'll be in and out in no time! And what if they have more kryptonite? _

_Send Batman. J'onn's still available, even though it technically is his day off._

_Superheroes never rest. Call –_

Another alert bleeped, its little red LCD blinking malevolently up at Psychotic.

_Ok, this is getting ridiculous. A herd of elephants stampeding out of the New York Zoo? How did they get a herd of elephants to stampede out of the New York Zoo? _

"B'wana Beast, I'm sending you to New York. There's a herd of stampeding elephants -"

"Who's this?"

"I am Psychotic, and I swear I will kill you if you don't shut up and deal with the elephants, ok?" Psychotic's patience was starting to really run thin. Out of the corner of her eye she glimpsed another of those vicious green pellets hurtling into Hawkgirl. The kryptonite wouldn't affect her like Superman, but it was launched with such speed that it sent her crashing through the metres-thick wall surrounding the base. The next pellet landed with alarming accuracy in the middle of Superman's chest. Psychotic noted all this as she entered co-ordinates and teleported B'wana Beast in the middle of his protestations.

Batman and J'onn were on the communicators before she'd even finished.

"What is the problem?" J'onn's concerned voice sounded over the comm. He was right to be worried. This was the very first day Psychotic had been left alone to Co-ordinate. It was a Sunday. Sundays were supposed to be quiet! So much for statistics, clearly they were all lies!

"Superman and Hawkgirl need backup defending the Alaskan GMD base. The assailants have kryptonite and -"

Psychotic was interrupted by another of those terrible beeps. She broke off for a second to check what it was.

"Oh for crying out loud!" Psychotic couldn't help saying it out loud, all three voices rising in supreme irritation and the flare of angry magic she unwittingly released lifting her three feet off the ground.

_Well you never know. It's entirely possible to have a glacier in the Caribbean, a stampeding herd of elephants in New York, and a bomb threat on the International Court of Justice all on the same day. _

"Batman, the International Court of Justice has just received a bomb threat. It seems authentic. Your technology should be able to find anything faster than what their security can. How soon can you be there? Never mind, just get there as soon as you can. J'onn, I'm sending you through to Alaska."

They didn't even wait for a reply. Psychotic had all three minds working at full tilt now, entering co-ordinates, scanning alerts and updates, and all the while keeping an eye on the Alaskan base attack. Hawkgirl had recovered enough to fight her way through to Superman. As for J'onn, Psychotic had deliberately transported him to the rear of the base, where he made short shrift of the sneaking infiltration group before phasing through to the main gates where he joined Hawkgirl and the gradually reviving Superman in annihilating the attackers.

No further alerts came in. The various crises were being resolved, slowly, but surely. Psychotic knew, intuitively, what was coming next.

_Now let's see what they have in store for us. _


	2. Moonwalk

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the Justice League/ JLU

**Pyschotic**

**Moonwalk**

It didn't take long to happen.

All the other situations were pretty much resolved, the various heroes involved in just tying up the loose ends- making sure villains were arrested, ensuring civilians were safe. Everyone was still technically busy, and there was nobody else capable of coordinating in place on the Watchtower. Which is exactly when the alert came through.

_How predictable._

Someone wanted to know more about Psychotic. Someone probably wanted some revenge for their plan being botched up. And that someone also _needed_ to know the details on everyone in the Justice League if they were going to have a hope of bringing it down. So it made perfect sense to set up a series of crises to get the majority of the League busy and then set up something that Psychotic would be obliged to respond to.

Psychotic displayed the details of the alert, taking a moment to scan through it.

_Uh… there isn't a chance we could just maybe stay up here and wait for someone else to deal with this?_

_Jay! Quit being so damn cautious! Where's your sense of adventure?_

_I deleted it along with all the other useless emotions I used to have. Come on Psychotic, back me up! This is so obviously a trap! We have hardly any practical experience with real life situations. It would make sense to wait!_

_I do apologize, Jay. I must support the other Jay in this. It is a trap, but as with all traps, if we are careful we can find out who's behind all of this._

_Yeah! Exactly! I was definitely thinking that! _

_Of course you were._

_Regardless what you were or were not thinking, Jay, this is our best opportunity, before they discover the full extent of our capabilities._

_As long as you both know I am totally against this._

_Killjoy! _

With the last few insults being exchanged across their minds, they floated down to the transporter pad and in seconds, were gone.

---

Superman glared around the Watchtower control room. "And where has she gone now?"

They'd most of them arrived back at the Watchtower at about the same time- Superman, J'onn and Shayera limping in together had caught up with Batman, Green Lantern and Flash just as they arrived. They'd all sped right back to the Watchtower as soon as they could, to get a thorough debriefing from Psychotic about what had happened today. Everyone recognized the situation for what it was- another attack by whatever group was currently targeting them. They had all arrived to find Psychotic gone, with apparently no clue as to where she was.

J'onn made his way to the main console, where Batman was leaning over the control, clicking buttons with the speed of familiarity.

"She's probably on the moon." Batman announced.

Superman shifted his glare to his good friend. "The moon? Is that a joke?"

"Do I joke?" Batman replied. "An alert came in an hour ago, reporting strange activity on the dark side of the moon. Precise co-ordinates are included."

"And they are the same co-ordinates as those of the last programmed teleportation." J'onn added, from the teleportation console. "One person was transported."

"What strange activity?" Shayera asked, a worried frown crasing her brow. "Psychotic has almost no actual experience- she could be in a lot of trouble!"

"There is no further detail. No other alerts have come in, and we can't seem to get any more information." Batman reported.

"Well, we should go check it out, then!" Flash interjected, his voice carrying uncharacteristic worry.

"_You_ can't." Green Lantern pointed out. "Last I checked, you couldn't breathe in space. Superman and I should go."

Superman reluctantly nodded agreement.

"I have programmed the transporter. You should arrive precisely where she did." J'onn informed them.

With grim expressions, the two men phased out of the control room.

---

Psyhotic scouted the cold, cratered surface of the moon. They already knew the magic could provide a perfectly good shield in space- it worked similarly to what Green Lantern did. It did have the minor drawback of being bright purple, which didn't really aid them in being stealthy, but at least they weren't dead.

Psychotic had muted the lilac glow as much as she could. Jay held herself ready to respond to anything, and the other Jay held sway over their senses, scouting in every direction around them.

_There is absolutely no cover on this moon. _

_Which makes it all the more ridiculous that we can't find any sign of 'unusual activity' here! _

There was enough light to see by, here. The moon was bathed in a silvery glow that didn't originate anywhere in particular but felt more like the light came from everywhere. Looking up into space was breathtaking, and Jay was loving the sensation of having nothing between her and the great wide universe but a thin violet shield. Psychotic couldn't care less, as she'd said when they got out here; it wasn't that much different from being immersed in the magic. Jay begged to differ.

_We've been here ten minutes already, and nothing has happened! Some trap this is!_

_Don't let your guard down. _

It was getting harder to differentiate who was saying what these days. They were still three different people- two Jay's and a Psychotic. But they'd spent so much time working together that they were starting to think alike. Especially under stress.

_There!_

A glint of light reflecting off something caught their eye. Immediately their body tensed, Psychotic poised to launch magic in whatever way was necessary.

They held their place for another minute.

_Let us get closer. _

_Be careful._

_Huh. How careful can we be? It's the moon. There's nothing to hide behind. If they haven't seen us yet, they'll see us as soon as we move._

_Still. Be careful. _

Psychotic levitated off the ground. The moon's low gravity made walking impractical, especially when the option to float was there. Sticking to the cover of craters and hills wherever they could, they made their way to where they'd seen the flash of light.

_Ok. This moon is officially _big

_Well, duh. _

_Duh? What does 'duh' mean?_

_Psychotic, how long have you been in this head with us? This cannot be the first time you've heard 'duh'! _

_Perhaps I have better use for my time than listening to your strange nuances? _

_Um, can we concentrate, you two? _

Jay would have shaken her head if she'd had sole control on the body. Trust her other self and Psychotic to start an argument in a situation like this. Still, her other self had a point. They'd been moving for a good ten minutes now, and still hadn't come across anything. That point of light hadn't seemed that far off.

A small hill rose before them, at least twice their height at the top.

_I have a strange feeling._

_What's that Psychotic?_

_I feel as if… as if there is something bad over this hill. _

_Odd, I feel the same._

_I do too. _

They all paused for a second as the realization that they shared the same instincts hit them. Still, now wasn't the time to mull it over. Without any further communication, they levitated so their body was parallel to the ground and inched their head above the lip of the hill.

Below them a platoon of soldiers were arrayed so that they faced out from the centre of the crater they were in. Each soldier was kitted in a full space suit, although this didn't seem to make their handling of their weapons awkward for them. Clearly they were used to being in space, and were accustomed to military actions here.

_But what are they doing here? There's nothing up here for them to guard! _

_More importantly, what do we do about them? _

Silence descended in their mind. They kept perfectly still, peeking out over the top of the hill, watching the soldiers for any sign of activity, any clue as to what they were doing.

Of course, it would have been smart if any of them had remembered that they were glowing.

They didn't hear anything, but one of the soldiers suddenly pointed right at them. Before they had a chance to react, they were encased in a bright, translucent bubble of energy.

Psychotic immediately created a bubble of her own magic, pushing it out against the boundaries of their imprisoning sphere. She used all the magic she could in a pulse powerful enough to wipe out a town, to no effect.

_We're trapped. _

The statement was grim, and sent a disquieting fear coursing through all of them.

_Look, relax. Pull the magic back in, conserve our energy and everybody watch out for an opportunity to escape. And pay attention to every detail. We need all the information we can get._

The bubble lifted them up and into the crater amongst the soldiers. One suited body stepped towards them. Suddenly a voice sounded from around them.

"Well, well, well. So this is the great magician that thwarted us?"

_Where is the voice coming from?_

_It's the bubble. Whoever he is, he's using his energy to project his voice from its surface. And this energy seems familiar…_

"Who are you?" Jay took responsibility for the voice. She did her best to keep her voice level, and to remove all trace of fear from it. By allocating each of them a role within the body instead of sharing it equally, it circumvented the magic's strange compulsion to triple-tone their voice when they acted together. All three of them were in silent agreement that their multi-personality should be kept secret as long as possible.

"Who we are is irrelevant. All you need to know is that your days of interfering are over!"

The voice was definitely male, and whoever he was sure was feeling smug. Nevertheless, he refrained from saying anything further and turned to another of the soldiers who had a handheld computer of some sort with him.

_What happened to the standard villain monologue? I'd sure like to know what's going on!_

_Can you please concentrate on figuring a way out of this instead?_

Finally the first man turned towards Jay. Through the incessant glow of the bubble, Jay could make out his blurred features behind his faceplate. She couldn't tell much, but she could recognize a triumphant grin when she saw one.

"What are you planning? What do you want?" Jay forced a level of arrogance into her voice, as if enough confidence would force him to reveal who he was and what he was planning.

He laughed. "What kind of amateur do you take me for? I've watched enough Bond movies to know better than to tell you anything! Not that you'll survive, but just in case, you understand?"

He turned away for a moment to confer with the soldier again, before returning his cruel grin on Jay. "As for what I'm going to do with you- it's quite simple. You see all that space? I'm going to send you out there!"

_The teleporter! The one who shifted all those trucks in that convoy! That's where I've seen this energy before! _

_So when he says he's going to send us to space…_

… _he's going to just deposit us somewhere?_

_This cannot be good. _

The man made a great show of cracking his knuckles. With a last conference with the other soldier, he turned his malicious smile on Jay. "Well, are you ready for it? Here we go!"

He held his hands out before him and began to slowly close his fists.

Jay watched in horror as the bubble they were caught in slowly constricted. Pressure began to build, crushing her, compacting her down, restricting her breath. Blinding white light filled her vision to the exclusion of all else.

On the moon the man laughed in delight as the bubble, with Jay inside, winked out of existence.

---

Green Lantern and Superman scanned the horizon of the moon. There was nothing in their view to suggest anyone had been here except for one pair of footprints. Clearly where Psychotic had stood when she'd arrived. But she'd obviously chosen to fly wherever she went, which left them with not a clue as to which direction she had taken.

"Let's split up and go in different directions, and hope one of us got it right." John suggested. Superman nodded agreement and they went in their separate directions.

It was Superman who found the crater with the scuffed footprints of the patrol. But apart from the footprints there was no evidence of any sign of life having been here recently. And certainly no sign of Psychotic.

With a grim frown, he contacted the Watchtower.


	3. Rescue

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the Justice League/ JLU

**Pyschotic**

**Rescue**

Sweat dripped down Jay's face as Psychotic channeled all their magic into holding the shield, all that was keeping them from exposure to the vacuum of space. As well as preventing them from being dragged into the gravitational field of Venus, which they were currently orbiting. By sheer dumb luck, she'd been deposited on the side of Venus away from the sun, so the planet was mercifully blocking the worst of the sun's rays.

_Or maybe it wasn't luck. Maybe this was just the furthest he could go. _

Psychotic didn't even acknowledge the other two. As soon as the bubble had begun constricting she'd centred herself within the magic, concentrating solely on keeping them alive. Reacting instinctively, she'd held the shield while they were transported across the solar system to be deposited very nearly _in_ Venus. On the outer reaches of the planet's thick carbon dioxide atmosphere, the planet's gravity had begun to act on their body, pulling them in. Thank God for the Jay's at this point, because they'd studied physics in school and she had not, so in the ten incredulous seconds it had taken them to realize where they were they'd begun yelling at Psychotic to counter the gravitational pull and push them further away from the planet. Now _that_ had taken a lot of effort, and once Psychotic had got them far enough away to significantly decrease the gravitational pull, she quite honestly didn't have the energy to do much more than hold a shield.

_Well, no way is this guy powerful enough to have sent us too far across the solar system, so Venus must be orbiting close to Earth at the moment, or something. This means we should be able to get a message to the Watchtower._

_Uhuh, sure, no problem. We'll just send out a mindbeam shall we? We can colour it purple. And make it sparkly. _

Jay wished she had the energy to roll her eyes at her other self. _Or we could just start the homing signal. It's on our belt, on the League badge. All I need to do is start it. _

Easier said than done. Pyschotic was channeling their full power, which naturally meant Jay was left with control of the body, which was currently pulsing with excruciating pain. Her other self naturally had cleared out the minute the pain started up- she had next to no pain tolerance, and Jay had never known her other self to hang around while the body had so much as a paper cut. Still, someone had to do it. Gritting her teeth, she shifted her hand the few centimeters to her belt and brushed a finger against the L. She hoped it made a difference because she had no way of telling if the signal was sending.

Just that small movement sent pain shooting through her arm and shoulder, a sign of her body weakening with the strain of using this much magic. She had a huge capacity for power, but fighting a planet's gravity took a lot of energy. They were just barely outside the atmosphere; Venus was a huge silver sheet in front of them. They were so close they could just barely make out the curve of the planet on either side or above or below them. But just keeping their position was all Psychotic could manage at the moment, getting further away was beyond her.

_Hang in there, Psych. It won't be long. _

At least, they hoped so.

---

"What do you mean there's no sign of her? She can't have just disappeared!" Flash's voice rose to a shout, his ability to control his temper completely lost.

"Flash, we searched. We've told you what we found. Just the footprints of a group of space-suited people about a kilometer from where she arrived, there wasn't even any sign that she'd run into that group. The only sign of Jay was where she'd been standing when she arrived." Superman calmly explained for the third time.

"What was she thinking, going off on her own like that?" Shayera asked.

"She was right to." Batman responded. "She recognized the alert for the trap it was, and she decided to spring it. If she'd waited, they would have just retreated, and we'd know nothing."

"She could be dead!" Flash shouted, zipping up to Batman.

"If she's alive, then we probably have a lot of useful information, if we could just find her." Batman answered, deadpan.

"Then find her!" Flash glared at Batman, scaring the Bats about as much as a pair of bunny slippers would. "You're supposed to be all super gadgets and fancy stuff! You equipped this whole damn Watchtower. There has to be _something_ you can do!"

"Flash, calm down." Green Lantern strode over and put a placating hand on Flash's shoulder. "She's an enterprising young woman. She'll think of something."

"So we just wait?" Flash snapped as he whipped around to send his glare at Green Lantern. John took a step back at the intensity of Flash's expression.

A justice league homing signal interrupted the discussion. All six of the superheroes arrayed at the control room console stared up at the screen.

"That's Jay!" Flash was the first to speak, speeding across to take a closer look at the screen. He glared at it for ten seconds before spinning around to face J'onn. "What does this mean? It's just a bunch of dots."

Shayera muffled a snort as J'onn walked up beside Flash and studied the screen. "She is in Venus."

"_In_ Venus?" Flash repeated incredulously.

J'onn looked closer. "Nearly in Venus. Her position is just outside Venus's atmosphere. She appears to be stationary."

"What's keeping her there?" Batman questioned.

J'onn frowned at the screen. "It appears to be nothing except her own magic."

Superman's face drained of colour. "She's not in a pod? A ship? Held captive by something?"

J'onn clicked a few buttons, getting as much information as was possible from the telescopic features of the Watchtower. "No. She is simply holding her shield and her position, with magic."

"Why doesn't she come back, then?" Green Lantern asked. "If her magic works like my ring, she should be able to."

Batman's eyes narrowed. "If her magic works like your ring, it's not limitless. Holding her shield might be all she can manage at the moment."

"Which means we need to get her back! Now!" Flash yelled, nearly frantic with worry. "Supes, you got to do something! Superman! Superman? Hey, where'd he go?"

---

Superman sped towards Venus, where it orbited not that far from Earth. Well, relatively not that far. If you were measuring in say, light years, which considering he could travel very near the speed of light, was fair to do. Another minute and he would be with Psychotic. He hadn't waited to babble any more with the rest of the superheroes, not when he was the only one who could realistically do anything to help her.

He neared Venus, his eyes searching for any sign of Psychotic. It only took him seconds to spot her, a small purple dot against the silver background of Venus. As he watched, the lilac… _flickered_. That could not be a good sign.

In space, everything seemed nearer than it was, because everything seemed so big. Still, he was Superman. Regardless of the distance, he was there in seconds. He flew up beside Psychotic.

"Psychotic! Can you hear me?"

Her eyes, a deep lackluster honey now, twitched towards him before returning to their head on stare. Sweat dripped off her brow, and soaked her hair. Her muscles were tense, her jaw clenched, every tendon stretched and taut.

"You'll be back at the Watchtower in minutes, ok? Just hold on a bit longer!"

Gathering her in his arms, Superman sped back towards the Watchtower.

---

Psychotic kept her concentration determinedly on her shield. Not having to fight Venus' gravity any more was a relief, but she was so drained that keeping her shield up required all the energy she could spare. Jay concentrated on keeping their body awake to act as the channel for their magic. It didn't channel through an unconscious body, and if she lost consciousness her other self or Psychotic would have to take over. And if it came to Psychotic taking over, the split in her concentration would make them lose the shield…

_But we'll be safe in a few minutes. Just keep it up both of you! You're doing great!_

_Yeah, but when we get there, how much trouble are we going to be in? We found out _nothing_. Are you sure it wouldn't be better to just drop the shield and die now?_

_Seriously, shut up. _

Jay smiled mentally. She hurt like crazy, but it was nice being together like this, working together like this.

From the depths of her mind, she felt a similar contentment coming from the knot of power that was Psychotic.

---

As soon as Superman flew into the controlled environment of the Watchtower, Jay's glowing purple shield winked out, along with her consciousness. Her entire body went limp in his arms as the tension drained out of her. Shaking his head, he made a beeline straight for the infirmary.

He was intercepted by Flash, who sped up and then around him in circles, checking what he could of Jay's health. Of course, Flash wasn't even a little medically trained, and could do next to nothing before they got to the infirmary, where Superman left Jay in J'onn's expert hands.

---

Flash stood with Batman and Green Lantern outside Jay's infirmary room, staring through the glass at the sleeping girl. Well, standing was a bit of an exaggeration. It was more like shifting nervously from foot to foot, to Batman's intense irritation.

"I don't get it." Flash complained.

Batman spared him a raised eyebrow.

"She's taken on Superman and beat him. She's got power to spare. How come she couldn't get herself back here?"

Batman held his silence for a moment before replying. "I spoke with Zatanna about this. It's to do with the way Psychotic does magic. She mimics forces. She has to push or pull against something. She was in the outer atmosphere of Venus- how far do you think she had to extend her magic to find something solid enough to push against?"

Flash thought about this for a moment. "So she wouldn't have even been able to fly through space. She could have launched herself in the right direction and then just kept going under momentum until she got to something else solid enough to push herself off again… but she'd have been traveling slower than a rocket. She'd have died of old age before she got back."

Batman nodded. Silence descended again, Flash even holding still, obviously thinking.

"I'm still going to rip it out of her when she wakes up!" Flash growled before stalking away.

Batman shared an amused glance with John.

"Let me know when she wakes up." John told him. "I want to see this. And if you can find any, bring popcorn."


End file.
